Quick Blog # 3

1. Describe an experience where you were privileged or advantaged due to your class/socio-economic status.

I think the fact that I have even gone to college makes me privileged due to my class, but to push that even further the fact that I am going to come out of college with having very minimal loans to pay back makes me even more advantaged. I see how hard some of my friends work just to make it through college financially, and I feel guilty that financial issues throughout college have never been something that I have had to struggle with.

2. Describe an experience where your were oppressed or disadvantaged due to your class/socio-economic status.

Sometimes when I am shopping and I go into a store that sells expensive items, I get the feeling from the sales clerks that I am not welcome there. I feel like they are thinking, “what are you doing in here…there is no way that you are going to be able to purchase anything”. Which, most of the time is probably true. One store I went into I didn’t realize how expensive it actually as but when I looked a pair of jeans and saw they were selling for $300 I knew I was out of my element. Between the stares of the store owners and the awkwardness I felt of being somewhere where I wasn’t welcomed I quickly left and will probably never go back.

3. Write about an experience where you witnessed an incident of classism (remark, behavior, attitude) and your reaction to it.

I can’t think of any life changing experience where I witnessed an incident of classism, but I did have a friend back in high school that would often make comments about people’s style of fashion or way of living. This particular friend fell into the upper of the upper middle class, or maybe the lower of the upper class and she gave of an air of being a little better than everyone else. She really was a good person and I don’t even think she realized how much her being privileged because of her class affected the way she acted at times. Whenever she said something completely outrageous my other friends and I would usually say, “[Friend’s name!], you can’t just say something like that” its rude/disrespectful. I haven’t seen this friend since I went to college, but I wonder if she still acts the same or if she has come down to earth a little bit. My guess is, because of how used she was to her lifestyle she was, that she is probably the same but I am hoping maybe just maybe she has changed her viewpoint on other people slightly.